Speaking to the grieving community of Newton, Conn. Sunday night, President Barack Obama gave a frank response to anyone that's questioned if there would ever be a right time to seriously discuss gun control: "We're not doing enough. And we will have to change," he said.
Responding to 20-year-old Adam Lanza's massacre of 20 children and six adults at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary, President Obama called for "meaningful action."
"In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this," Obama said at a Sunday night prayer vigil at Newtown.
Friday Lanza reportedly shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, packed at least three of her guns, and then drove her car to the Connecticut K-4 elementary school, opening fire in two classrooms around 9:30 a.m., police said. Police are still searching for a motive; witnesses said the shooter didn't utter a word.
Investigators believe Lanza attended the school several years ago but appeared to have no recent connection to it, said a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity.
Investigators questioned Lanza's older brother, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, of Hoboken, N.J., for hours Friday and searched his computers and phone records, but he told law enforcement he had not been in touch with his brother since about 2010. Police say he is not a suspect in the case.
Officials speaking under the condition of anonymity say Lanza had to force his way into the school. According to police, the guns used in the shooting were legally purchased and registered to his mother Nancy. Lanza reportedly primarily used a Bushmaster .223 assault rifle while on the rampage.
According to USA Today, President Obama has no public events scheduled for the next three days and will soon elaborate on his call for "meaningful action."
"We can't accept events like this as routine," Obama said." Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"
Obama acknowledged the complexities concerning the issue of gun control and random acts of violence, but insisted the nation open up a dialogue on the issues.
"We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end," he said. "And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law - no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society."
"But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely, we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that - then surely we have an obligation to try," Obama added.
An Obama aide speaking on the condition of anonymity to the Associated Press explained why the issue hit so close to the President's heart.
"If you put aside the loss of troops ... these specific instances of the shootings have impacted him more personally than anything else," the aide said.
Five of the 12 most deadly shootings in U.S. history have occurred since Obama took office in January 2009, the Associated Press noted.
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